Budget wish: Rs 200 cr more for CCTV cover

For Delhi Police, the budget can be a tool to provide Delhi the much-needed CCTV cover. Citing recent terror attacks, the force has asked finance ministry for an extra R200 crore to install CCTVs at six district courts, Supreme Court, high court and 28 markets.

The force, on an average, gets R3,500 crore from the Centre. “The project has been divided into various phases. Two of its phases — pilot and phase I — are over. We are now pushing for phase II. Courts have been included after the recent terror attacks. A separate budget of Rs 32 crore will be earmarked for them from that Rs 200 crore,” a senior police officer said, on the condition of anonymity.

The cost of the entire project is Rs 360 crore. The Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) has been given the responsibility of installing cameras at selected locations. “The objective was to cover almost every sensitive market and border with cameras.

But a few changes were made after the two terror attacks on high court,” the officer added.

Currently, temporary cameras have been installed at district courts and high court to avert any attack. “The cameras were installed on an urgent basis. The lack of cameras at high court has hampered our investigation. All the concerned districts were directed to install temporary cameras. But we are hoping to cover all sensitive places with help from this budget by the end of this year,” the police officer said.

In the pilot project, cameras were installed at Vasant Vihar market and Ghazipur border. In phase one, Delhi police installed cameras at 25 markets which includes South Extension, Karol Bagh, Rajendra Place, Daryaganj, Hauz Khas, Green Park, Saket as well as at sensitive places such as India Gate and Jantar Mantar.

Phase two has been divided in two parts. Phase IIA will cover 28 markets and 10 border checks while phase IIB will cover six markets. The total cost of phase II is estimated at Rs 90 crore.